Gives and Takes Away

One of my favorite worship songs is entitled "Blessed Be Your Name".  The bridge is simple and goes like this;

"You give and take away. You give and take away! My heart will choose to say, Lord Blessed be your name."

Tomorrow, Thom and I will be boarding the plane bound for Hong Kong.  And like everything in Peter's adoption process, with the sweet comes the bitter.  This morning July 14, at 2:30am, Thom's Dad, Raymond Thomas Inglin went to be with the Lord.  It's like we looked away for a second and God drew our attention back to Him.  Nothing about getting Peter is or has been done in our understanding or our strength.  What a place of desperation we found ourselves in!  Do we reschedule our appointment?  Do we stay and support the family?  Do we go?   Both of these directions are good and pleasing to God.  Both considerations and questions are viable options.  Which do we choose?

Back in the beginning of this blog post I told the story about how our Pastor, CB Eder, came over and counseled and prayed with us as we wrangled with the decision as to whether or not to adopt a child with DS.  It all came down to knowing that we know that God had called us to adopt for sure and for certain.  God has brought that moment  to our minds over and over again with every decision or opposition we faced in this 16 month process and He brought us here again today in this very real-life scenario.  God was at it again! He was teaching us how to discern, not presume what the path to take would be.  He did it in 2 very specific ways.

1.  Counsel:  I can't thank God enough for both of our Pastors, Cb Eder and Ben Ross.  This morning in the early hours, Ben helped us sort out what was the difference between the fear of man and the fear of the Lord.  How was our thinking lining up with the call God had given us?  Which direction would bring most glory to God?  Slowly as we prayerfully sought Ben's wisdom, the Holy Spirit clearly lighted the path.

2.  Confirmation:  We know that not everybody will understand our decision to go.  We know that we may never be forgiven by some and confirmed by others.  But we remembered the man, Dad Inglin, and the fact that his whole legacy was about helping the orphan, the poor, those in prison, those in need.  And God showed us that by going to Hong Kong and getting Peter we would be bringing great glory to God and honor to Thom's Dad.  Soon after these hours of crying out to God, the phone rang and it was Thom's Mom, Peg Inglin.  She was crying and said she wanted us to go and celebrate life by getting Peter.  That would be Dad's wishes. What pure and holy kindness was shown to us in that moment.

Dad is really going to be missed.  He was devoted to God, the church and His family.  His time here on earth is done and he is truly free!  In God's perfect ways, which are not our ways, He took Dad home.  And while we will all grieve his loss for seasons to come God has given us something good to help ease our pain, Peter and much more, Himself.  God gives and takes away and doesn't need our permission in the process.  But He does lavish us with steadfast love and comfort and promises that in the valley, He will never leave us or forsake us.

So we joyfully go completely released to pick up our son and completely released to honor Thom's Dad in our grief all the while nestled into the nail-scarred hands of our Savior Jesus, completely weak, completely dependent and completely aware that only God can make bitter-sweet, Beautiful.  Please pray for our family that we would be comforted during this time.  That through the giving and the taking many will come to know Jesus.